How To Come Up With A Blog Name: 10 Effective Ways To Choose a Name For Your New Blog

“Names, once they are in common use, quickly become mere sounds, their etymology being buried, like so many of the earth's marvels, beneath the dust of habit.” – Salman Rushdie

A few months ago I had a great idea that I could build a blog around. I had the content planned out, the design laid out in my head but the one thing I couldn't put my finger on was what name I would use.

I don’t know about you but I seem to be one of those people coming up with names waaaay after someone already else has. There’s nothing more deflating than seeing that name brandished blazingly across someone else’s blog.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

The truth is that there are ways to know what to name a blog with that we probably wouldn't have thought of on our own.

If you come up with a name that’s completely irrelevant to your content, it’s not going to be doing you any favors. Similarly, a cool, corporate name for a fun and vibrant writing style is again going to give your readers the wrong impression.

“Brand is one of the most important things when starting a blog or any website, that name stays with you, everything you do is to build that name so it has to be something you'll look back on as a great choice!”

How To Come Up With An Awesome Blog Name

With the above in mind, it’s time to really get into the thick of it. Below you’ll find 10 tried and true methods that I’ve personally used to create my own blog names that I think you’ll find just as useful.

1. Grab a Thesaurus

There’s something about flicking through a good Thesaurus that beats almost any other method I know, for coming up with interesting new words. A Thesaurus can be a goldmine of inspiration, especially if you want to say something in a slightly different way.

When was the last time you looked through a Thesaurus?

A quick scan for the word “Tips”, brings up suggestions such as, buzz, hint, inkling, and pointer – all of which sound much more exciting to an ear that’s well-tuned to that more common phrase.

2. Look At Competitors' Blog Names

This may seem like a no-brainer but doing your research on the kinds of blogs you’ll be competing against, will give you an idea of what type of name will work for your own blog.

Of course, you’re not going to be copying anyone, yet it may just be the perfect nudge to get those creative juices flowing.

3. Use a Blog Name Generator

One of my favorite tools for coming up with fun word combinations is Wordoid.com. This creative name generator allows you to set your own limits on the kind of words you want to create. Then all you need to do is hit “submit” and browse through the suggestions.

The great thing about Wordoid is that not only does it suggest some pretty awesome names, it also tells you whether the .com of that name has been registered by anyone. Taking the stress out of crafting a great name, only to find out it’s being used elsewhere.

4. Take Inspiration from Books

Whoever said you have to conform to rules when creating names? Why not take some advice from the World’s greatest authors and use your favorite literature as inspiration.

With millions of books out there, all full to the brim with wonderful words, it won’t take you long to find something that inspires and delights, as well as be a potential contender for your new blog.

5. Consider a Different Language

One of my favorite languages now is Icelandic. There’s something incredibly beautiful about the way the words and syllables flow together to create their meanings.

If you’re looking to stand out in a saturated market, choosing an abstract word or phrase in a language other than English can be a great way to draw attention to yourself. A simple online translator such as Google Translate will get you off to a good start.

Try choosing something short with fewer syllables. This will help to keep your blog name easy to remember and pronounce!

6. Play with Words To Come Up With A Perfect Blog Name

What happens if you’ve already come up with the perfect blog name, but it’s already registered elsewhere on the net? I’m sure we've all been there at some point and it’s incredibly frustrating, to say the least, but don’t write off your favorite name just yet.

Step in Panabee. This cute little tool helps you to keep your original idea alive, by providing suggestions that are closely linked to your first choice. It uses the range of methods such as suffixes, phonemes, and prefixes to name a few, in order to come up with alternative name suggestions that usually end up being even better.

7. Use Humor

Laughter and humor is an infectious tonic with the benefit of making your readers smile. Try boosting those endorphins by creating a blog name that portrays a wicked sense of humor.

While it may not work for more professional blogs, if your tone of voice is fun, fresh and witty then there’s nothing to lose and is well worth giving a try.

Some of the names I've come up with in the past using this method include “The Dork Side”, “Motherpotamus” and “The Pillage People” (that last one was for a game clan, please don’t judge me).

8. Try Alliteration

alliteration (noun)

the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

“the alliteration of ‘sweet birds sang’”

You may not realize it but I bet you use alliteration in your day-to-day life without even realizing it. It has an almost musical quality that allows a sentence to flow fluidly from one word to the next and is incredibly addictive.

Try alliteration when coming up with your blog name, by using the same letter for each word in your name. A few ideas could be, “Business Blogging Basics” or “Blogging Blues Busters” – you can probably come up with something much more awesome than me I’m sure!

9. Use Abbreviations

Take a moment to think about the companies and brands you’re aware of and how many of them have an abbreviated name. I can think of at least ten off the top of my head and with a bit more thought can probably think of many more.

Abbreviations are beneficial because they keep things short and sweet, without removing your brand and identity. You could abbreviate your whole blog name, or mix it up by half abbreviating and use a word on the end – a bit like Devish, the owner of WPKube, does.

10. Use Your Own Name

If you’ve tried all the above methods and you’re still really stuck on what to call your blog, you could always default to your own name. Many bloggers have become hugely successful with self-named blogs.

Not only do you get to attribute your own name to the stuff that you put forth on the web, people will also be able to recognize you more easily as the word spreads.

Ways To Come Up With A Blog Name: Bonus Step

Get started with your blog by grabbing my “The Ultimate Guide To Choosing Your Niche”!

Reader Interactions

Comments

You come up with a very genuine problem among all the bloggers at the time of naming their blog. In fact, I was also facing the same problem. Sometimes it feels so annoying, but you gave us some wonderful tricks to choose the blog name perfectly.

And yeah, I also like the part on how to choose the name using Google translator 🙂

I'm so glad you found it useful. There's nothing worse than being in the middle of branding a blog or website and not being able to think up a good name. Hopefully you won't find yourself in that situation any more in the future!

I chose to use my online nickname but that was in the days when blog competition wasn't so great. Today I'd use something more descriptive, or my real name for self branding purposes but I'm stuck with it now. It's so important to get it right and not rush into publishing your blog before you've thought it out.

The ideas you've given here are really good and I'm going to bookmark Panabee especially as their other tools are handy too.

Great post, I think most of the people have problem with names. Using your own name is common way, and I think it's one of the best, but you have to decide if you want to brand your blog as your personality or a brand.

Great post. I could have use this type of blog when I came up with the name for my own blog lol. I grew to like it though. But using your name wasn't an option for me since there's another Andrew Warner out there in the business world … but I have another site where I use my name and I managed to get around that.

When I started, many people said to grab a Thesaurus to try to figure out a name and it is a great resource for trying to come up with something .. but like you said, you have to know who your intended audience is going to be before you even start looking up possible words.

That Panabee thing is actually cool. I just tried it out and it gave some crazy suggestions … but I can't say any name is crazy when we live in a world of (Google, Yahoo, Twitter, etc. lol)

What a fab post. Now, a guide for attaining the right Twitter handle would be useful, too. Especially if someone has taken the one you want (and that matches your business name, grumble grumble). This post is a keeper, thanks so much!

That blog name you mentioned is brilliant! I love the play on words and it's so applicable to Travel Blogging.

Back in my parent blogging days I saw some crazy ideas that somehow seemed to work really well. I guess ultimately it all comes down to not only what works well for your audience, but what feels right too!

When I read the title I was intrigued enough to click its "Read More" link. My experience of choosing a really great Blog site name appeared to be scarily outside my skill set.

My mind just could not come up with any name that was better than Blah. Hence, I decided to settle down and read / understand your Blog post.

By the way, my 20 year old Blogsite is – originally named – ivansmusings dot com, ( Yup I know you are rolling on the floor laughing ) Hey! that's why this is a must read Blog post AND you did recommend using your own name, I must be doing something right.

A Thesaurus? I never ever thought of that as a source of great Blogsite names.

I'm begining to understand what thinking out of the box means. I'm sure that if I can marry a carefully curated set of words ( how's that for Alliteration? ) from a Thesaurus with a touch of humor I'm home and dry.

Thank you for sharing. Your style of English writing is beautiful. Its easy for people like me to read and understand even though English is not my mother tongue.

Thanks for this great post, Sue! Finding a good domain name can be very difficult. Personally, I'm a fan of NameBird (shobia.com/namebird), it seems to be like Wordoid only more powerful. Anyway, hope you post here again soon!

Also, for finding new names, I like to sit down with a piece of paper and do a brainstorming cloud. I write down words that I think are important, then write related words, sounds, ideas and concepts. Then I try to meld them together and see if something cool comes out.

This is such a timely post as I am struggling to come up with a name for a niche site. Each name that I do come up with will effect the way that I will have to present the site (professional, conversational, informational, etc.).

Hi Stacey, great post with loads of useful information. I've had my blog for four and a bit years now. I'm undergoing a refresh, possibly changing provider and I was also contemplating changing the name and having a mini-crisis on what I should call it. I came across your post and reading through it really helped. In the end, after hours of word games, I decided that the original name still fits the purpose of the blog, so no change coming through. It was good to go through the process though…otherwise I wouldn't have known that I was happy with what I have. Happy blogging!

I have a blog-naming question that I can't find any insight on. I am wondering if it affects SEO when my blog name has a word in it that is very commmon amon blog names. I have drummed up a few name ideas and a few are excellent in that nobidy has anything with the same vibe or similar social media handles, but one word is common in other blogging genres. Does this help me in SEO or does it hurt me? Is it better to have a blog name that wont turn up in search results alongside any other blogs or is it a good thing that mine would show up when people search for other blogs in other genres? Any insight would be appreciated.

thank you so much for solving my problem of finding the right name for my blog/domain name! I got stuck for several days, either the name was already taken or it didn't feel right. Then I stumbled upon your fantastic article and I came up with the idea of translating my name. Kevin in Latin is 'Coemgenus', to which I added an extra touch. I even wrote my first article about it! So thanks again for the inspiration, otherwise i could still be searching for a name.

I have had the idea of starting a blog for months… witty banter, helpful young mom tips, DIY, cooking, etc. All things I've had my hand in the past… but now to combine all this into a funny, useful, intriguing blog… haha sounds just short of impossible to a beginner. However, I've read your blog many times, and drawn tips from your writing and your pointers shed some interesting light! So finally I have a vision of what I want my blog to look like… ahhhh! ( A choir of angels singing while beams of light stream from heaven ) My current feelings… but I still can't get the name down… pretty important… but your tips were super helpful and I'm on the road to somewhere! Thank you again for your help, and be on the lookout for my soon to be named blog!

I am a new young blogger and am struggling to find a name and get my blog recognised. I am trying to remain anonymous due to people at my school who are not so supportive. I realise you are probably really busy but was wondering if you have any advice for me

yours sincerely, The Quiet Ones (as I said the name is awful please excuse it ) xx

This is a really good article and very helpful in choosing a blog name. I have a couple questions, though. I recently read a Comment from someone on a different blog from another blogger that said, "I don't like names that tell you what to do." (ex. Get Moving, Have Faith, Don't Worry-Be Happy, etc.) What are your thoughts? If the blog is about a certain topic, should it be in the title? Is a tag line beneficial?

Hi Debbie, I think the names that tell you what to do are clear and straight-forward, and that's the key to a good domain name. The tagline can help but I'd rather you have a great Lead Magnet incentive freebie that tells your audience what you do. That title can work as a tagline.

Your blog name is your online identity, and you’ll invest time, effort and money to make it a well visited blog. Changing a name in the future is not easy – it’ll involve work like setting up redirect links, updating your address with Google and undertaking a marketing push for your new blog. You may also lose backlinks. So, it’s best to use tools and make a careful choice of name for your blog, right at the very beginning.